IEN Radio

Researchers at Southern Illinois University Carbondale have come up with a way to make 3D-printed food out of plastic waste. They call them µBites (microbites), and they could be the innovative answer to global problems over waste plastic and food scarcity.  The process is fairly straightforward. The team mixes waste biomass and plastic, which is processed into slurry. A special yeast converts the...

Another year, another potential shortage of Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce. Consumers, distributors and retailers have faced this dilemma before, but this time it has less to do with supply and more to do with color. USA Today obtained a letter sent to wholesalers by Huy Fong Foods, the company that makes Sriracha, the well-known hot sauce with the rooster on the label. It said that it would be halting...

After the initial launch for Boeing’s Starliner was scrapped last week due to a leaky valve, NASA could be looking to give it another go later this week. But one contractor is surprisingly and publicly asking the agency to reconsider the launch, which it warned could end in catastrophe. ValveTech, a company that designs and manufactures valves and other components for aerospace and military applic...

On Thursday, 71-year-old Curtiss E. Jackson was convicted of a long-running scheme that bilked investors out of millions over a fraudulent boatbuilding and cruise business.  Jackson and his wife, Jamey Jackson, owned Semisub Inc, a shipbuilding firm in Hawaii. Both sought investment in the company and for more than ten years told financial backers that the prototype vessel, the Semisub One, was ju...

In early March, Rivian paused construction of a planned $5 billion electric truck plant in Georgia. The cost-cutting measure hoped to speed production, particularly of the company's midsize SUV, the R2, which will now be made at its existing plant in Normal, Illinois.  To help make it happen, Rivian last Tuesday announced an incentive package worth $827 million from the State of Illinois Depa...

The Department of Justice announced on May 8 that a Florida woman pleaded guilty to a scheme that involved fraudulently procuring government contracts to supply critical military components to the Department of Defense. The woman, Yuksel Senbol, pleaded guilty to 25 felony counts, including violating the Arms Export Control Act and the Export Control Reform Act, money laundering and wire fraud. 

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) last month issued a Withhold Release Order for products made by Shanghai Select Safety Products Company Limited and two of its Chinese subsidiaries, Select Safety Products and Select Protective Technology Limited. CBP officers were instructed to detain any work gloves made by the companies and deny them entry into the country. 

Tyson is one of the largest meat producers in the world, with 123 processing plants and 124,000 employees just in the U.S. The company did about $52.94 billion in revenue last year, but the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) says it came at a hefty environmental cost.  A new report from UCS, a nonprofit organization made up of scientists, analysts and policy experts, says Tyson Foods has released...

Plastic is not one of the most popular materials in the world right now, being branded “unsustainable.” Domestically, members of the U.S. Congress have introduced legislation to crack down on plastic production, and, globally, nations are negotiating a treaty to end plastic pollution. Despite the potential adverse effects of plastic, igus, a German motion plastics manufacturer, sees an opportunity...

The Department of Labor yesterday announced one of the largest wage violation settlements ever reached for U.S. poultry workers. A federal court ordered a network of California poultry processors and distributors to pay $4.8 million in back wages and damages to 476 workers. They must also pay $221,919 in penalties.  Under the terms of the settlement, the employers must also forfeit $1 million in p...

A brewery in Wisconsin has residents foaming at the mouth. Unfortunately, it's not after enjoying a pint.  For the better part of nine years, a leak in a containment vessel in the City Brewing Company's bioreactor has been belching hydrogen sulfide into the air. As a result, the community in La Crosse, Wisconsin, has been subjected to a smell akin to rotten eggs. 

Heineken is a huge multinational corporation and it’s affected by market realities like supply and demand just like any other company. But when the answer to those issues is destroying an apple orchard, it’s hard to see it as just business. Heineken owns Penrhos Orchard, a 300-acre site in Wales that was planted in 1997. The company said last year that it wants to sell that land because demand for...

The Department of Justice announced an unsealed indictment accusing a pair of Chinese nationals of engaging in criminal activities linked to a plot to export U.S. technology to restricted end users in China.  According to the DOJ, 44-year-old Han Li and 64-year-old Lin Chen sought to export semiconductor manufacturing technology, including a machine for processing silicon wafer microchips made by...

The U.S. Air Force has chosen two companies that it will continue to fund as part of its Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program, and the decision leaves out some major defense contractors. The Air Force this week said Anduril and General Atomics will continue on with the program to supply detailed designs, manufacture, and testing of production test aircraft.

Welcome to another episode of Gen Z in Manufacturing , a podcast where I interview young people about their journeys in manufacturing, how they intend to influence the industry and what they are looking for from an employer. For this episode, I welcome Danea Buschkoetter, a 27-year-old lead welding instructor at Cloud County Community College. In this episode, Buschkoetter discusses: How universit...

The shift toward electric has touched nearly every corner of the automotive industry and now it’s extended its reach into Disneyland. The amusement park earlier this month confirmed with the Los Angeles Times that the gas-powered vehicles of the Autopia ride within the Tomorrowland attraction will be swapped out for electric vehicles. Disneyland spokesperson Jessica Good said that means fully elec...

Just last month, Intel announced plans to spend some $36 billion to expand and modernize operations in Hillsboro, Oregon, partly funded by awards from the Biden Administration's Chips & Science Act. Just a month later, the Oregon plant is facing some decidedly less positive news. The Oregonian has reported that Intel is being sued by a contractor who alleges exposure while working at Hill...

On Saturday evening, an incident at a southeastern Wisconsin substation caused the grid to go dark for some 16,000 people. According to We Energies, a Wisconsin utility company that provides electricity to more than 1 million customers, the culprit was a raccoon.  According to a spokesperson, a raccoon touched two pieces of equipment simultaneously, which knocked out the power, and likely made for...

A traditional cast with an outer layer made from plaster or fiberglass is more than sufficient for a human with a broken bone. But for a gorilla, which is about 10 times stronger than a human being and less likely to put up with some discomfort, that type of cast doesn’t stand a chance. Gladys, an 11-year-old gorilla at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, recently fractured her humerus whil...

Mercedes-Benz yesterday announced a new logistics concept: a demonstrator that combines eSprinter vans with e-cargo bikes to sustainably solve the last-mile riddle.  The Sustaineer (sustainability pioneer) tech demonstrator promises a look at delivery transport of the future. So, what does that look like?  The electric van is based on the automaker's eSprinter. Mercedes already has fully elec...

Humanoid robots are still a long way from full-scale rollouts across industrial, commercial and other settings. But if this week’s arrivals tell us anything, it’s that the pace of development may be speeding up. Boston Dynamics earlier this week made news when it bid a fond farewell to Atlas, the hydraulic robot it’s been tinkering with for nearly a decade. The company even assembled a send-off vi...

Last October, a 26-year-old employee at Faurecia Emissions Control Systems in Franklin, Ohio, was fatally crushed. According to OSHA, the worker had been on the job for about a year and was placing cardboard under a machine that bends vehicle exhaust pipes at the time of the accident.  The company is a subsidiary of Faurecia North America which, in 2022, combined with Hella to form Forvia, one of...

Food company Conagra Brands announced that it would cease production operations and close its facility in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. The company claimed in a letter to the Bureau of Workforce Training that the move is designed to improve the effectiveness and efficiencies in its supply chain network.  Conagra added in the letter that the closure, which is expected to be permanent, would affect all emp...

U.S. retailer Walmart is turning to robots for help as it works to keep pace with e-commerce rivals like Amazon. The company said it will roll out 19 Class 1 electric, autonomous forklifts across four of its distribution centers, with the possibility of a wider deployment in the future. Walmart associates are currently being trained to operate the FoxBot, which is designed to handle a lot of the m...

The push towards electrics means changes in the automotive industry are impacting every OEM – even those tailor made for it. Elektrek first reported that EV leader Tesla is cutting “more than 10%” of its workers. Citing an internal memo, the company is reportedly looking at “cost reductions and increasing productivity” and will target its global workforce. While no hard number was released, 10% of...